Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-05-25
Memorial Day.

Memorial Day.
Subject the history of all nations to the
most careful scrutiny. examine with that
thoroughness which should mark any at
tempt at detection or severe criticism,
each revolution that has prominently char
acterzed any epoch. and one will always
discover certain acknowledged conditions
which have governed all that has ever
been accomplished by nations. No pro.
gress has ever been made without great
effort. No great advanced political prnci.
pie has ever been adopted without supple
menting logical argument by the force OF
armies. No high moral doctrine has
ever been established without the keenest
suffering on the part of thousands.
Especially have these conditions been il.
lustrated by the events which have dis
tinguished the various epochs in the his.
tory of this country The incessant toll
and almost uncomfortable hardships of the
early colonst in his struggle for existence
and advancement; the hard fought wars
of the Revolution and of 1912 for the
principles of liberty and freedom; and
later. the fierce and bloody rebellion both
for the maintenance of those political
principles and for the establishment OF
those moral doctrines which were advocat
ed by the greatest, purest and most patri
otto statesmen of this country and de,
Tended by the noblest blood of the land
these exemplify these conditions only toe
we'll
Twenty-Five years have passed since
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox
thus eliminating one epoch and beginning
another. That act in itself bears signif
canoe to the citizen of this country which
cannot be appreciated by the nhabitant O
any other land 1t is the dividing act be.
tween an epoch of discord, of wrangling
OF disgrace and of shame and new epoch
of unity, of harmony. of happiness and o.
pride. 1t killed old envies and hatreds
and gave birth to equal rights and fraterna
dispositions. 1t destroyed the individual
ity of States and absorbed all into one
grand united confederation. 1t place.
the ballot in the hand once manacled and
tettered and pushed the church and educa
tlonal institutions into the hamlets of the
negro. But the martial tread and the
battle line OF that former epoch were al
ways through death. Carnage marked the
many battle-tields. Sorrow entered
thousands of homes. But upon the ruin
and desoiation of that strife has arisen {
renewed and invigorated nation bv thu
efforts and determination of which only
this people are capable. Forty millions
have become sixty. Wealth by unrivallet
industrial and commercial enterprises from
the inexhaustible resources of tn,
land. has rolled into the lap o
the honest and persevering toiler. I'm
impaired. the nation has enjoyed a prosper
ity which it dismembered, could neve
have attained, and strength and power
which still give it rank among the fore
most nations of the earth. This prospect
ty is not sectional or rather it need no
be. 1t was not war of the Nortl
against the South. 1t was war wage,
against the nation by the few States @
the South, which attempted to secede
And if the South has not been prosper
Gus, the cause undoubtedly lies at he
door. From careful comparison. W
are led to suspect that those States in tn
South whose citizens have dismissed tn
hope of realizing the lost cause, VIII
have honorably and manfully accepte
the decisions OF war and who have &C
commodated themselves to the socis
conditions brought about thereby. hav
enjoyed that degree of prosperity whic
is proportional to their reception of tn
rights and principles established bv tn
suppression of the rebellion. Whereve
the South shall faithfully pursue in it
internal affairs, the course which is ST
probably followed by other States. Their
will remain no cause for exception to tn
prevailing prosperity of this period.
But the blessings which have been en-
joyed by this nation for the last twent
years were purchased at fearful cos
Hundreds of thousands Of the brave, nc
BILE and patriotic sons of the North Ii
buried on the Southern battlefield and i
the cemeteries OF the North. The debt {
dollars can be easily paid by those OF u
who live to enjoy the many blessings {
this era, bat never can the soldiers VIII